So all my clients love black and white lacquer ( and many other colors) and they want their picture frames to be ornate carved frames in a glossy ebony ,white, or colorful finish, but WOW that is hard to find! Eveywhere I go they only have baroque style frames in gold leaf. I finally realized what I had to do. Break out a can of glossy spray paint! Otherwise you will pay a fortune at some super expensive high-end boutique!

Where do you find the frames to paint? Go to the absolute cheesiest art store you can find with the tackiest art in the windows and an in-house art frame shop in the back. (don’t worry, you aren’t buying the art, just the frame….they have the best prices, and they won’t snub you when you mention you are going to paint it black!)

When you are trying to find a good deal, you have to be able to visualize the final product. Only look at the lines of the piece and ignore the finish because you want to change it anyway.

Here are a couple I found online…

Now imagine this in an extra large (they max out at 36″x 48″ interior dimensions) in a high gloss canary yellow , or maybe fuschia, or turquoise!

GORGEOUS!!

To make it very “artsy” use a large white matte to frame a small picture inside (metallic silver or gold is great too…Micheal’s has special paper that is super reflective for this). Maybe frame a toddler’s first painting! How chic would that be! Art is all about the frame! It will turn a two year olds finger-painting into a work of art! Hang it in your kitchen and voila! Instant pizzaz!

HINT: Make sure that you prime it first with a good coating and make sure you get the right kind of primer that can cover oil based paints in case there is any polyurethane over the gold leaf! Do not try to paint the frame with a paintbrush either, it will look terrible! Spray paint is the way to go and if you use a high gloss finish on the final coat you will be amazed at how good it turns out! Keep an extra can in the pantry for any touch-ups!

I have been doing this with pieces of ornate furniture, mirrors and frames too- They now have new spray paints that are lacquer type. They really save on the amount of cans you need to use. I think Rustoleum is the brand that works the best!

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[...] Lacquered ornate frames! – {Material Girls} – I may have just done this yesterday to a frame I have (stay tuned!) [...]